Barry Norman Reveals He Almost Got Into A Fistfight With Robert De Niro In Archive Interview

The film critic, unfortunately, passed away at the age of 83 on Friday. Now, it has been revealed that Barry Norman met quite a lot of Hollywood stars during his long career.

Some of the most well-known actors he had the opportunity to meet include Peter Sellers, Richard Burton and Sylvester Stallone.

Norman, who was the longest-running host of the BBC film program was announced dead by his two daughters Samantha and Emma.

Apparently, the journalist passed in his sleep, painlessly.

In an archive interview from back in 2006, Barry opened up about his most memorable encounters with Hollywood stars, including the time he almost got into a fistfight with A-lister Robert De Niro!

‘Friends of mine warned me he did not like interviews. Goodfellas was due to come out and Warner Brothers contacted me saying De Niro was only doing one TV interview and was I interested? He kept us waiting 30 minutes while his shirt came back from the laundry. Every answer he gave was monosyllabic and after 10 minutes I started getting annoyed. I had heard he had begged for the lead role in the movie Big but the producers told him he was box-office poison and kicked him out. I only wanted his version of the events, but he glowered at me and spat, ‘You had to get that in there, didn’t you?’ before storming off.’

But the brave journalist decided to go after the pissed off actor.

Before he knew it, they were face to face, about to go at it.

The man admitted that looking back, it was not his smartest move.

Fortunately, the actor calmed down fast and the two men shook hands to make peace.

Norman ended up giving Goodfellas a great review as well.

Advertisement

What an interesting and well-lived life Barry Norman had! He will certainly never be forgotten!